Tuesday, January 1, 2013

I'm all for tax breaks, but just know that it is those close to power that generally get them, and not the rest of us. While the payroll tax break, which impacts most of us, has not been extended in the Senate fiscal crisis bill, Obama's Hollywood cronies do get a tax break extension.

Breitbart spotted the gift to Hollywood deep in the fiscal cliff bill:

Section 317 of the freshly approved legislation includes an extension for "special expensing rules for certain film and television productions." Congress first enacted production tax incentives favorable to the domestic entertainment industry in 2004, and extended them in 2008, but the deal was meant to expire in 2011.

The original tax incentive applied to productions costing less than $15 million to make ($20 million in low-income areas). The 2008 extension applies to all films, up to a deduction of $15 million (or $20 million in low-income areas). The incentive is especially generous to television series; it applies to each TV episode.

Like Carlyle co-founder David Rubenstein told me, the devil is in the details. In this case, the benefits are for the crony leftists. The entire bill is 157 pages, so for certain there are other goodies tucked in for cronies and more ways the rest of us will have to pay. Happy New Year.

Yeah. Id like to hear them defend this tax break. Bet they'd all suddenly become Austrian economists. "But if we dont get a tax break YOU will have to pay more for enteretainment", "and the movie budgets will have to be cut", "and we'll have to use cheap actors", etc, etc.

What a joke. One of the few industries in this country that can pay their fair share. Hollywood dominates world wide entertainment, and like big oil, needs a tax break, like the 99%-f us need higher movie costs. Look what these Hollywood stars are paid to make a lot of so-so flicks. We get the shaft in grossly overpaying for everything from tickets to poisonous popcorn. Wonder why everyone is hurting, from mom and dad taking the family to the movies, to the theatres, who get 40%-of revenue from consessions. Last movie I went to, I paid $4-for a bottle of water. KMA.